Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!

This is going to be a kind of sad post with a happy ending.

We have a patient who is very sweet. I really like her. Her husband is... a total asshole. You know he's bad if I'm willing to say that on a blog that my mother reads. He acts like he knows more than the doctor (he doesn't). He acts like his wife's opinion about her pregnancy does not matter (it does). And he hates women. He hates that some times they have to get instructions from the nurse and not the doctor, and that the doctor respects his nurse (and all female staff). He hates that I have to tell him what to do, when the appointments are, how much to pay. He threw a fit over copays and co-insurance today. As his wife was sobbing.

Why was she sobbing? They found out their baby most likely has down syndrome. And he was being a complete ass about it. Oh yeah, and he gave her herpes. She was really stressed out.

So as I'm explaining to him how it works between his insurance company and our office, he informs me he will only pay when the insurance company tells him he has to. WHAT?!?!?!?! Screw my research. And nevermind picking up the phone for yourself to check. Forget that this is the doctor's policy if you want him to be your OB. Oh no. None of that matters. Not to mention that all I asked you for was a frickin' $30 copay and your wife is having a mental breakdown in the background.

Btw, she understands how the payment and insurance coverage works. She has no problem with it. She is shoving her debit card in my face to take the copay and get the hell out of our office. So she can cry in peace. He keeps talking because he wants to be the one in control, the one telling me what to do instead of the other way around. As the doctor is telling me to "get him the %$#* out of my office, if he doesn't cooperate than she can come alone or they can find a new doctor."

I was inventing all sorts of cuss words in Spanish in my head. Then I looked over at the patient. I looked at how hurt, how devestated, how stressed out she was. I smiled sincerely and said, "Sir, I will be happy to do what you are asking and provide you with what you need at your next appointment. I understand your concerns and what you are asking and I will comply with your request."

It was really, really tough. Like the patient who told us we had to call her husband to explain why she couldn't have sex after delivering her baby (and needed to be on bed rest for complication), because he wouldn't believe her. I wanted to kill the guy.

So they finally left.

The happy ending?
We all had tequila shots afterward to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. It was hilarious. Especially because only one person in the office is Mexican, and we all did, like, 1/4 shots. It was really, really funny and the only way for any of us to blow off any of that horrible feeling. Only, only in my life would I work somewhere where my boss, a doctor, is making us all tequila shots.

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Matthew 5:9